After eight stressful years on the job, President Bush will deliver a farewell address to the nation on network television at 8 p.m. on Thursday, the White House announced.

The address will be 10 to 15 minutes long, from the East Room of the White House.

White House press secretary Dana Perino e-mailed reporters: "Continuing a ritual that dates back to George Washington, President Bush will deliver a farewell message to the American people Thursday night. He will reflect on his time in office and the ways our country has changed these past eight years. He will also uphold the tradition of presidents using farewell addresses to look forward — by sharing his thoughts on greatest challenges facing the country and on what it will take to meet them."

Perino told reporters on a conference call that the speech will be delivered before a live audience of what she called “courageous people” Bush has met with during his eight years in office, according to a report of the conference call filed to the press pool.

Perino compared the audience to the president’s box at the State of the Union address

“This would be the last scheduled public event before the president-elect arrives at the North Portico on Inauguration Day,” Perino said.

“This is not going to be a swan song,” she adding, declaring that Bush will “defend his record" but is not “looking to refight old battles."

Perino said the White House Press Office made a formal request to the networks to interrupt their programming for this address — a request that is rarely made and therefore virtually always granted. But she said the networks have not said whether they will carry the speech.

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A White House official said: "Presidential farewell messages have taken on different forms over the years. Early presidents delivered them as written messages that were printed in newspapers. More recent Presidents, like Clinton and Reagan, have delivered speeches from the White House. Others, like Carter and Ford, have gone to Capitol Hill to deliver a final State of the Union address. All recent farewell addresses have been evening speeches."